Like the Third Wife … doing what little she can to help

This is one popular book! My third and fourth sales for the Quileute School, and it’s the same thing as the first two sales … a book about vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Like sale #2, these went through Google Checkout, so I have to wait for them to send the money to my bank, but when they do, that’s another $18.84 for the school! A grand total of nearly $40! Not bad, I think, not bad. To see the breakdown, read the blog about the first sale at https://rezschool.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/the-first-sale/.

On April 2, I sent two Wolves books to Chaske Spencer, via his agent, requesting that he sign the picture he liked the best anywhere inside the books. Or, if he wasn’t comfortable doing that, he could return the books unsigned. I included an envelope with enough postage to cover the return of the books at Media Mail rates. Here’s a copy of the envelope I sent …

… It’s the one I found in my mailbox this evening. Only, the books were not in the envelope. No. Instead, I got a nice autographed photograph of Sam Uley.

Autographed photo of Chaske Spencer as Sam Uley

Now, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or anything. I’m not. Glossy photographs like that can’t be inexpensive, and I didn’t ask for it. So, I’m glad I at least got something. But, you know, what I really want is the books. Signed or not, I’d really like to have the books back. I’m rather upset that someone in New York has two copies of a really nice book about wolves that don’t belong to him/her/them.

I’m going to sleep on this tonight and try to decide the best way to go about trying to get my books back. Should I call? Should I write? Should I call and write? Who do I call and/or write to? I’ll give it a night or two of thought before I do anything. Then I’ll let you know.

In the meantime, I’d like to thank Mr. Spencer (or whoever reads his mail and sends out signed pictures) for sending me this picture. While it’s not what I originally asked for, it will still go to help the kids at the Quileute Tribal School, and that’s a good thing. If you’re interested in purchasing this photograph, visit the Third Wife Rez School store.

What did they buy? An utterly fascinating book entitled Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies, which explores the history of said mythological creatures, both fictional and real (yes, real!). My favorite is the Werebear … I wonder how Emmett would fare in a fight with a Werebear?

Like I said in a previous post, when I imagined donating the profits, I only thought about the difference between the price I paid for the book and what someone else paid for it, but after I started putting numbers down on paper, I began to realize that I was spending a little more than the price of the book. So I resolved to share the process for each item in my blog; that’s part of the reason I started it in the first place.

So here’s the breakdown:

Item

Cost

Book ($9 listed price; I bought it at work, where I get a 50% discount)

I didn’t really know how I was going to acknowledge that the donations I make from the Third Wife Rez School came from that and not just randomly from me, but I think I like how I did it. I’ll do it that way from now on. In case you don’t want to visit the site to see, I entered Profits from “Vampires, Werewolves, & Zombies” book sold at rezschool.ecrater.com! in the comments section. It’s a plug for the store, and lets people know how the money was raised at the same time. Pretty good for on-the-fly comment entering, if I do say so myself.

I finally got everything together and sent items off with a request for autographs. I chose a book about wolves to start with, and I’m hoping to get autographs from all the members of the wolf pack. I sent two copies of the book to Chaske Spencer. It felt fitting to start there, as he’s the alpha wolf. I might try Taylor Lautner next, since he’s the beta, but he’s also the most popular wolf, so it might take longer to get him to sign something, which means I might go for the rest of the pack first.

Since all profits from the things I sell via the Third Wife Rez School Store will go to the Quileute School, I thought it’d be interesting to track the cost of everything. Initially, I was thinking that everything but the price of the books, but then I realized that I had to pay not only for postage to send the books (or other items, whatever they may be) to the people I want to autograph them, but I also need to send along return postage as well, which doubles the postage for each autograph I request. Plus, I need to send them in something. That’s why I went ahead and sent two copies of the book. (Hopefully, Chaske will agree to sign them for me!)

So, here’s a running list of all costs associated with getting these books autographed. I’ll update this post each time I pay for something else.

Total so far

$20.60

The books (I get them half-price where I work, so there’s a bit of savings)

The wolf picture is a bit smaller, faces the other direction, and is located on the right side, but other than that … all the info’s there!

So, now I have many things I need to get scanned or pictured then posted on the eCrater store and/or eBay. I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to send out for autographing, get that letter composed, and those items in the mail. I’m working on the Twilight addresses page, too, so keep an eye out on that for updates.

As for what I have to sell? Well, there’s a few books, some magazines, book marks, candy, party supplies, and more! Not to mention, I’m making items to sell as well, but those take longer. Keep an eye on the store for new listings!

Things are moving right along! I created an online store, I found more items to sell, and the Quileute school is going to register with Mission Fish so that they can be listed as a charity on eBay! I have a business card created in Word — not sure if I like it yet, but it’s a start.

I don’t have anything listed yet, but if you want to visit, here’s the store website: rezschool.ecrater.com

Being a fairly recent, but no less avid, fan of the Twilight series, I found myself scouring the internet daily looking for the newest news about the books, movies, actors, and anything else remotely related to my beloved stories. When I read this article, my heart nearly broke. When I read that “They struggle to maintain adequate tribal housing and to support their tribal school…” I knew I had to do something. But what?

My family background is very pro-education: my mother has an Ed.D. in education administration and has taught math for 40+ years; my sisters and I all have Masters Degrees; one sister is a middle school teacher; I have a degree in library science and have worked in elementary schools, public libraries, and other venues promoting research and reading. I’d love to help with the housing and the other things listed in the article, but I can’t do it all, and I have to start somewhere; so, I decided to begin with the school. Like the Third Wife in the fictional history of the Quileutes (chapter 11: Legends , Eclipse), I will do what little I can to help.

On the Quileute Wolf Pack website , I found a link to the Quileute Nation website , from which I was able to locate information about their school. (Remember, Jacob goes to the school on the reservation, preferring the “Rez school’s exclusivity” as opposed to the Forks High public school.) I contacted some people at the school, and heard back from someone associated with the tribe’s PR department. They had just established a fundraising site for the school, and were working on promoting it to the fans. Here’s what she said:

We are trying to spread the link out to reach the fans–I have also linked it through Facebook as a “cause” facebookers can support and hopefully spread word about. (I don’t know if you are a part of one of these social networks but if you are join our cause by searching “Support the Real Team Jacob!”). The donation website is:

If you have friends that are hooked on the Twilight craze, this is an easy way to reach out to them and spread information on how to donate to the school and support the tribe directly.

With that, my imagination started soaring. I began to wonder what I could do to raise money for the school. I began by making a small donation of my own, but felt that there was surely more that could be done. Twilight fans banded together in record numbers to raise funds for Haiti … surely we could work together to help people in our own country, people who play a vitally important part of our favorite books? I felt certain it could be done.

I came up with tons of ideas and have absolutely no idea whether or not they are all possible. I’ve never tried to do this before, so I don’t know the parameters of possibility for something like this. That can be both good and bad. We’ll see how it goes. But I decided that a blog would be a fun way to not only track my progress as a neophyte fundraiser, but also to hopefully raise awareness among Twilight fans and hopefully garner a few donations.

So, welcome! I hope this proves to be an interesting journey. Please, make a donation if you can; at the very least, please let your friends know about the Quileute school fundraising project. Together we can all make a difference in the lives of the real-life Quileutes, and in the process, make Jacob Black and his wolf pack proud of us!